[2] Malhotra was born on 25 December 1943 in Lahore, in the Punjab Province of British India into a Punjabi Hindu family with three other siblings.

He progressively graduated to flying other aircraft including the Dassault Mystère, HAL HF-24 Marut, and the Soviet Sukhoi Su-22.

[3] Malhotra was part of the IAF fighter squadron that was tasked with air raids over Pakistan in 1971, after that country had launched strikes on India prior to the Bangladesh Liberation War.

[3] In one attack in the Chamb-Jaurian sector in what was then Western Pakistan, his plane was at the receiving end of heavy anti-aircraft gunfire, but he nevertheless returned to his air base in India.

The final tests resulted in Malhotra, Rakesh Sharma, and two other cadets being selected to train for spaceflight in the Soviet Union's Intercosmos program in 1982.

The two trained on multiple mission objectives, including studying the effects of yoga in space as well as other biomedicine and remote sensing experiments.

[5][7][6] The decision to have Sharma go to space and Malhotra remain on the ground was taken by the Ministry of Defence in India halfway through the training program.

[1][2] Upon his return to India, he was posted as the commanding officer of the Hindan Air Force Station near the Indian capital of Delhi.